Is it just me or are there next to no construction pictures of Queen Victoria available out there in the Internet coloured yonder? Has anyone come across any apart from the few small images on the Cunard site?

From the pictures of the interiors I've seen so far the QV looks like it will be far more intimate and personal than the QM2. I have yet to see any pictures of the Wintergarden or a description. I hope the designers have learned from the gaudy room on the Mary and have toned it down on the Victoria.

Kyle Johnstone

I'm wondering about, at the bottom of the article, the references to the Queen Mary.

It would be unfortunate if Cunard is choosing to perpetuate the myth that Cunard had ever intended to name Queen Victoria what became Queen Mary.

Perhaps they feel that spreading colorful legends is preferable to the factual history of their company.

Historians who have written about the Queen Mary all say that there is no basis of fact to this story of the naming of the Queen Mary, there is no historic indication that the Queen Mary was ever going to be anything but the Queen Mary.

Plus, I wonder about the photo of the "Queen Mary" bannisters, supposedly inspired by the Queen Mary. I am very familiar with the Queen Mary, past and present. There is no such bannister on the Queen Mary today, and in photos published in books and brochures throughout her long career and retirement, I can find no such bannister, which, if it ever did exist, maybe was only in a minor Third Class space which was destroyed in Long Beach.

Just curious as to where the inspiration for the "Queen Mary" bannister came from...
Perhaps I'm mistaken, I'd love to know where such a bannister is or was on the Queen Mary.

I was recently on a short Carnival "Booze Cruise" on the Carnival Paradise (Yes! Me! Carnival!)
The Paradise has an ocean liner theme throughout in her artworks, and her bars and lounges are named after notable liners.
Her library, the "Blue Ribband" held a replica of the Hales Trophy. I was surprised to see that in the now-empty case, there is a notice that the trophy is on loan to Cunard for display in Queen Victoria's "Cunardia" musuem.

I found this ironic for two reasons. (other than finding such a thing on a Carnival party barge)
The Cunard Line, when they were in posession of the Atlantic speed record, declined the honor of posessing the Hales Trophy, the chairman saying that he would sooner the honor than the prize, and said he found "a cup" to be inappropriate for the speed record.

Also, the Queen Victoria, Cunard's slowest ship in over a century, will now be displaying the Hales Trophy, even though a replica.

Kyle Johnstone

The board of Cunard White Star Ltd., having been formed to absorb the assests of the former Cunard Line and the White Star Line, agreed it was time move away from the "ia" names of Cunard ships and the "ic" names of the White Star.

This, coupled with the wish to honor the queen who had agreed to launch the new liner, resulted in the name "Queen Mary".

"The Mary" by Neil Potter and Jack Frost
pub. 1961 with the assistance and cooperation of the Cunard Line.

Other maritime historians debunk the myth that the Queen Mary was ever going to be anything other than the Queen Mary.

Kyle Johnstone

Yep Kyle, so many tales associated with the QM that you have to wonder what is true. Like supposedly the Duchess of Windsor not wanting to ever travel on ships named for her "horrible mother in law" and the sister in law that she despised, but other stories and pictures show just the opposite.